The Washington Middle School Brain Bowl sent two teams to compete in the Moberly Young Scholars Tournament (MYST) on Saturday, February 12.
There were 30 teams in attendance, which were placed in five prelims pools of six teams that played a round robin before lunch. The top three teams from each bracket, plus the top overall fourth place team, reached the playoffs.
WMS A went 5-0 in prelims with wins over Columbia Smithton B, Louisiana B, Tuscumbia A, Hallsville B, and Columbia Independent (CIS) E, and earned a spot in the playoffs.
WMS B went 3-2 in prelims with wins over Southern Boone County B, Louisiana A, and Russelville, but losses to Columbia West A and CIS C, combined with fewer points scored overall than Southern Boone B, left them fourth in the bracket, and out of the playoffs.
In the consolation rounds, WMS B went 2-1, winning over Pilot Grove and Columbia West B, and finished in a tie for 17th place overall at 5-3. Team members were Preston Wood, Steven Banderman, Eva Lohmeyer, Cynthia Bade, and Annie Snider.
The 16 playoff teams were seeded into groups of four. The winners of each group advanced to a seeded semifinal/final format.
WMS A won their three games over Hallsville B, Columbia West A, and Hallsville A, and entered the semifinals as the No. 2 overall seed, playing against No. 3 seed CIS B.
After a close game, WMS A closed out the win, 390-300, to advance to the final against their usual rival, CIS A.
The final was a very close game, with several lead changes. WMS A started out ahead, then CIS A got right back in it and took the lead after just a few tossup cycles. Neither team could really pull away, thanks to bounceback points. CIS led at the half, 220-160, and WMS A had pulled ahead just after tossup 12.
Going into tossup 18 (of 20), CIS led 320-290. WMS got the tossup after an early CIS miss and 30'd the bonus to take the lead. CIS won the lead right back by powering tossup 19, but WMS was able to steal a part of the bonus. At the start of the last tossup, WMS was down 345-340.
WMS powered the Greek Mythology question before the end of the first sentence to claim the lead, and the 30 points of the Social Studies bonus gave WMS A the win, 385-345.
Washington also broke CIS's streak of tournament wins this year, and CIS's 4-year hold on the MYST title!
Team members were Madelyn Sumpter, Teaguen Riley, Peter Bush and Nathan Oreskovic, who won the No. 1 individual scoring medal from prelims.
WMS Scholar Bowl A - Team members were Madelyn Sumpter, Teaguen Riley, Peter Bush and Nathan Oreskovic.
WMS Scholar Bowl B - Team members were Preston Wood, Steven Banderman, Eva Lohmeyer, Cynthia Bade and Annie Snider.
